Medicare & Insurers Crack Down on Opioids – Patients Suffer

Individualized pain management does not exist.

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Correction from reader:

“Individualized treatment does exist, but insurance companies are not paying for it. This has to change.”

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The New York Times reports “Medicare is Cracking Down on Opioids” (link below).

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Last year an insurer denied 10 mg daily Oxycontin for one of my seniors who had been safely taking this for many years. That is less than 1 mg per hour for 12 hour relief. Pharmacy refused to fill unless insurer approved. That’s one way to reduce healthcare costs without an uprising. There is little tolerance for someone with pain. Are they viewing patients as addicts? Would they do this for cancer?

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It is not legal for me to provide medical advice without an examination.

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It is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

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This situation seems typical of the government’s activities these days. Leaders want to be perceived as “doing things” for the country. In the absence of being able to accomplish this they “undo things” so they will appear to be busy. I listened carefully when the budget for a war on opioids was announced. Developing drugs that would effectively stop pain was not even mentioned and, of course, was allocated NO funds.

Drug development is done by pharmaceutical companies. I posted a few months ago how they gave it up years ago. After all, they made billions on opioids.

The war on opioids is the epidemic of opioid addiction, overdose, suicide. Everywhere. Addiction cannot be changed without medication management and working with a therapist, not by drug development. The government should fund addiction treatment centers. Not all of these addicts have pain that might indicate an opioid. Addiction is killing the country at every level, everywhere, rural and city, rich and poor, black and white, employed or not.